News and analysis on politics, human rights and civil society in Latin America by Geoffrey Ramsey

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Is Peña Nieto Taking on Mexico's Old School Political Bosses?

Just one day after Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a new education reform bill into
law, police arrested Elba Esther Gordillo, the head of Mexico’s largest
teachers’ union and a vocal critic of the reform package. For now, it
remains unclear whether her arrest was an isolated case or a sign that
the administration is setting its sights on the corrupt political bosses
that have traditionally been “untouchable” in the country.El Universal
reports that Gordillo, commonly known as “La Maestra,” was arrested at
an airport outside Mexico City yesterday on charges that she embezzled
more than $153 million in union funds. According to Attorney General
Jesus Murillo Karam, she used some of the money to pay for lavish
personal expenses including a private jet, plastic surgery, designer
clothing and two houses in California. Prosecutors say they have
evidence that Gordillo embezzled the funds in a 2008-2012 money
laundering scheme involving banks in Switzerland and the United States.As the Associated Press
notes, Gordillo was initially seen as a voice of democratic reform in
the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) when she first became its
president in 1989. But over time she transformed the union into a
political juggernaut, an essential block of votes that the country’s two
major parties fought to win over in every election. She also
established herself as the SNTE’s ultimate leader, winning every single
union election virtually unopposed.Gordillo’s arrest could be a
sign that Peña Nieto is interested in taking on the kind of old-style
union bosses that were once major political operators in his
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) during its 71 years in power.
The president has attempted to distance himself from his party’s old
ways, and during his campaign promised voters that the PRI had turned
the page on its legacy of cronyism.On the other hand, the arrest
may be a simple case of Peña Nieto taking a shot at a political
opponent. Gordillo fought the education reform bill tooth and nail, and
the Financial Times
points out that she organized a series of major demonstrations in
recent days in a last ditch attempt to derail the law. By authorizing
her arrest, the government is sending a strong signal to its critics in
the SNTE.The true test of Peña Nieto’s motives will be whether
the government goes after other high-level union bosses in the country,
like Carlos Romero Deschamps of the oil workers’ union. Like Gordillo,
Romero has sat comfortably at the head of his union since the early 1990s,
and has a reputation as a political kingmaker in Mexico. Proceso
reports that leaders of the National Action Party (PAN) released a
statement urging Peña Nieto to pursue Romero and other longtime union
bosses as well, but the president has made no comment on their request
so far.News Briefs

Animal Politico and El Universal
report that the Mexican government released an official database of
missing people yesterday, putting the total number of people who have
disappeared from December 2006 to November 2012 at 26,121. The list’s
release comes after Human Rights Watch published a highly critical report
on the government’s handling of disappearances in the country last
week. It is unclear how many of the individuals included in the database
are victims of forced disappearance, however. According to Deputy
Secretary for Legal Affairs and Human Rights Lia Limon, the list
includes people who have gone missing for “diverse reasons, not
necessarily related to criminal acts.” The full database can be
accessed online via the National Public Security System’s website.

The AP profiles the ongoing debate
over the legitimacy of Mexico’s rapidly growing self-defense movement,
which the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has loudly criticized.
Raul Plascencia, the CNDH’s president, recently warned that “there is a
fine line between self-defense organizations and paramilitary groups.”
Meanwhile, El Informador reports that self-defense groups in western Guerrero state -- where the movement has been especially active
in recent weeks -- have announced that they will unify into a single
coalition in an attempt to gain recognition from the government.

In
London on Monday in his first official overseas visit as U.S. Secretary
of State, John Kerry responded to reporters’ questions about the United
States’ stance on the Falkland Islands conflict by restating U.S.
policy, EFE reports.
“Our position on the Falklands has not changed,” Kerry said. “The
United States recognizes de facto UK administration of the islands but
takes no position on the question of parties’ sovereignty claims
thereto.” Much of the British press has interpreted the statement as an
attempt to avoid addressing the Islands’ upcoming referendum on sovereignty, with the Telegraph accusing him of “ducking the issue” and the London Evening Standard running the headline “Visiting John Kerry refuses to back Falklands vote.”

Argentina
is set to appeal a U.S. court ruling that orders the country to pay
$1.3 billion to holders of its defaulted debt this week. According to Reuters,
the trial begins today in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New
York, and will be presided over by a three-judge panel. Interestingly, Bloomberg
reports that the trial will feature a “courtroom rematch” between the
two lawyers who faced each other in the proceedings that ultimately
decided the 2000 U.S. presidential election, David Boies and Theodore
Olson.

La Nacion
reports that after several hours of heated debate, the Foreign
Relations Committee of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies has finally
approved a draft of the controversial agreement with Iran to set up a
"truth commission" tasked with investigating the 1994 bombing of a
Jewish center in Buenos Aires. The bill is expected to pass in the lower
house this week, and was approved by the Senate last Thursday.

According to El Pais,
Uruguayan President Jose Mujica is at odds with his ruling Broad Front
coalition over how to institute a proposed marijuana legalization
measure. While lawmakers favor taking advantage of their congressional
majority and passing the bill as soon as possible, Mujica supports
holding a series of public forums around the country to raise awareness
of the issue over the course of three to four months.

A new Gallup poll released on Tuesday shows that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ approval rating has fallen to its lowest level yet
since he took office in 2010. The poll indicates that, for the first
time, more Colombians hold a negative opinion (47 percent of
respondents) of Santos than a positive one (44 percent). The Cali-based El Pais
has released the full results of Gallup’s bimonthly opinion poll in
Colombia, which shows that support for the president has been hit hard
by increasing skepticism of the ongoing peace talks with FARC
guerrillas.

La Silla Vacia
looks at a recent pledge by the largest mining firms operating in
Colombia to help reduce poverty in their areas of operations, which the
according to the news site amounts to a tacit admission that the mining
sector drastically needs to improve its image with local communities in
the country.

The AFP reports
that the Venezuelan opposition has begun to consider naming a candidate
in the event that President Hugo Chavez dies or is declared unfit to
govern, triggering special elections. While members of the opposition
Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) have told the press that several names
are being considered, analysts and pollsters say the only opposition
figure that could successfully oppose a Chavista candidate is Henrique
Capriles.

Another opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez of the Justice First Party (PPJ), quelled rumors
yesterday that he is planning on leaving the country in the face of
corruption allegations. Earlier this month government prosecutors accused Lopez of accepting campaign donations from state oil company PDVSA in 1998, when his mother worked there as head of public relations.

Officials
in Bolivia claim that an EU-funded program which encouraged certain
coca-growing communities to police cultivation limits themselves has
contributed to a 12 percent drop in coca cultivation in these areas, La Razon and InSight Crime
report. The five year program ended on February 21, but the government
is pointing to its success as reason to institute the self-policing
model elsewhere in the country.

The Miami Herald
analyzes the many obstacles in the Helms Burton Act which prevent the
United States from normalizing relations with Cuba. While Raul Castro’s
recent announcement that he will retire in 2018 satisfies one of the
law’s requirements, the conditions calling for the legalization of
opposition parties and holding free and fair elections do not look like
they will be met any time soon.

Following the Obama administration’s strong denial of reports that it is considering removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Foreign Policy contributor Jose Cardenas argues in favor of keeping Cuba on the list.
According to him, the lack of evidence that the Cuban government aids
terrorist groups is irrelevant, so long as it does not publicly repent
for supporting such groups in the past. As Greg Weeks points out, “this is the very definition of moving goal posts.”

Government prosecutors in Peru have called on a court to order the arrest of Cajamarca regional president Gregorio Santos, La Republica
reports. According to officials, Santos has failed to comply with the
court-ordered terms of an investigation into his participation in
paramilitary “rondas campesinas” during the country’s armed conflict.
But the move has political undertones as well, as Santos has been a key
figure in anti-mining protests in the country, and recently weighed in on the ongoing conflict over a proposed copper mine in the Lambayeque region.

After a Hague tribunal ruled
in early February that Ecuador should be responsible for the costs
associated with a battle with Chevron over $19 billion in contamination
damage in the Amazon basin, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has called
on the Unasur and ALBA regional organizations to reject the decision,
the AP reports. Ecuadorean prosecutors are currently pursuing lawsuits against Chevron in Colombia, Argentina and Brazil in order to collect the damages, and in January an Argentine court upheld a freeze of Chevron’s assets in the country.